TUTORIAL 6

Discrete Probability Distribution

Session 2010/2011

1. The number of childbirths X a career woman may have is given by the probability mass function

(6  x) (1  x)
P( X  x)  , x  0,1,2,3,4
50
(a) Construct the probability distribution table for X.

(b) Find the probability a randomly chosen career woman has 3 childbirths.

Session 2011/2012

2. The probability distribution for a discrete random variable, X is tabulated as follows:

X x 0 1 2 3 4

P( X  x) 1 1 3 1 1
16 4 8 4 16

Calculate P(1  X  3).

3. Syarikat CAHAYA manufactured light bulbs. In order to control the quality of its product, the
company randomly selects 5 light bulbs out of each batch of 25 bulbs manufactured. It is found
that, a batch contains 4 defective bulbs. Find the probability

(a) exactly 2 defective bulbs are selected.

(b) at least 2 defective bulbs are selected.

4. A factory is using 12 old machines. The probability that a machine is still functioning at the end
of a day is 0.7. Each machine functions independently. Calculate

(a) the mean and variance for the number of machines that are still functioning at the end of

a day.

(b) the probability more than nine machines are still functioning at the end of a day.
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Discrete Probability Distribution
Session 2012/2013

5. A study on the reading habit is done in a community. It is found that 15% of its population read
at least one book in a month. Let X represents the number of people in the community who
read at least one book in a month.

(a) If 20 people is chosen at random, find the probability not more than five people read at

least one book in a month.

(b) Find the minimum sample size n, that should be taken so that P( X  1)  0.95.

Session 2013/2014

6. The probability distribution of a discrete random variable X is shown in the following table.

X x 2 3 4 5 6

P( X  x) 0.15 0.25 2k 0.1  3k 0.4  3k

where k is a constant. Show that k  0.05 .

7. The mean number of typing errors per page throughout a document is three. Find the probability
that there are less than three typing errors on any three pages of the document.

8. The probability that a randomly chosen youth will contract influenza like diseases (ILD) during
a rainy season is 0.4. Suppose that during one rainy season, 15 youths were randomly chosen
and tested for the presence of the virus causing ILD.

(a) What is the probability that between nine and 12 of the youths will contract ILD?

(b) If the probability that more than k youths will contract ILD is 0.095, determine the value
of k.
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Discrete Probability Distribution
Session 2014/2015

9. The probability distribution of a discrete random variable Y is shown in the following table.

y -2 -1 0 1 2

P Y  y  k 3 k 2 k2 1
8 16 16 16 16

Show that k  3.

10. It was found that 60% of the arrows shot by Ahmad hit the target board. Let X denote

the number of arrows that hit the target board. If Ahmad shots seven arrows, find

(a) the mean and variance of X.

(b) P( X  2).

11. At a factory, on average five workers were laid off in one-month period. Calculate the
probability

(a) exactly one worker will be laid off in one-month period.

(b) between one and six workers will be laid off in a two-months period.

Session 2015/2016

12. A parking lot at Teguh Shopping Mall has two entrances A and B. The mean number of cars
that arrive per hour at entrances A and B are three and five respectively.

(a) Find the probability that less than three cars will arrive at entrance A in one hour.

(b) Determine the probability that at least three cars will arrive at entrance B in 30 minutes.
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Discrete Probability Distribution

13. According to a survey, 25% of the government staff overspent their monthly salary.

(a) A random sample of 25 staff was selected. Find the probability that at least two of staff
overspent their monthly salary.

(b) A random sample of 20 staff was selected. Find the probability,

(i) Not more than 5 staff overspent their monthly salary.

(ii) Between 5 and 10 staff overspent their monthly salary.

(c) A random sample of 200 staff is taken. Use the normal approximation to find the
percentage that not more than forty staff overspent their monthly salary.

Session 2016/2017

14. Suppose that 15 percent of the population is left-handed.

(a) Find the probability that in a group of 10 individuals, there will be at most 3 left-handers.
(b) In a group of 20 individuals, how many is expected to be left-handed?
(c) If 500 individuals of the population are selected at random, approximate the probability
the number of left-handers is between 60 and 80.

15. A production manager for a worker’s agency is worried about its elderly employees’ ability to
keep up with the minimum work pace. These elderly employees will be on medical leave for
an average of m days per month. Let X be the number of days that an elderly employee will be
m xem
on medical leave with the probability distribution P X  x   .
x!

Find m if P X  5  P X  4 .
1
(a)
2
(b) In a particular month, calculate the probability that and elderly employee will be on
medical leave between 1 and 5 days.
(c) The agency is planning to suggest elderly employees to retire if the percentage of them
taking medical leave for 5 days or more per month is greater than 50%. Should the
company do so?
(d) What is the expected number of days that an elderly employee will be on medical leave
for a year period?
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Discrete Probability Distribution
Session 2017/2018

16. The probability distribution of the discrete random variable Y is given in the following table.

Yy 0 1 2 3 4

1 1 1 1
P (Y  y ) k
12 6 4 6

Find the value of k.

17. A telephonist receives an average of 3 calls for every 15 minutes.

(a) Find the probability that the telephonist will receive at most two calls from 10.00 am to
10.20 am.
(b) Find the average number of calls received by the telephonist in a day. Assume one
working day is 8 hours.

18. In a shooting competition, the probability of Halim hitting the target is 14.5%.

(a) If Halim fires 7 times, what is the probability that he will hit the target in less than 3
times?

(b) How many times should Halim fire if the probability of him hitting the target at least once,
is more than 80%?

Session 2018/2019

19. 4 out of 10 lecturers in a college own a Malaysian made car. If 20 lecturers are selected at
random, calculate the expected value and variance of the number of lecturers in the college who
do not own a Malaysian made car.

20. The average number of typing errors per page throughout a document is five. Find the
probability that

(a) there are no typing errors in any page of the document.

(b) there are less than three typing errors on half-page of the document.
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Discrete Probability Distribution

21. The following table shows the probability distribution for a discrete random variable, X.

X x 1 2 3 4 5

1 1 1 1
P  X  x 12 3
m
3 12

1
Show that m  .
6

Session 2019/2020

22. On the average, 9 customers arrived at a petrol station between 2.00 pm and 3.00 pm on a
particular day. Calculate the probability that 6 to 8 customers arrived at the petrol station
between 2.15 pm and 2.35 pm in a particular day.

23. The number of scientific calculators, R, sold in a week by a shop has the probability distribution
as follows:
0.25  0.05r , r  0,1, 2,3

PR  r   s, r  4,5

 0, otherwise.

(a) Determine the value of the constant s.

(b) Find the probability that 3 or 4 calculators have been sold in a week.

Session 2020/2021

24. The probability of a mouse infected with a certain disease will be cured after receiving a

new antibiotic is 0.35. If a sample of 20 infected mouse is randomly selected, find the

(a) mean and variance of mouse that were cured.

(b) probability that 5 to 13 of the number of mice were cured.
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Discrete Probability Distribution

25. A new clerk makes an error on average, once in every 20 invoices. Find the probability that

(a) there is no error made in a batch of 20 invoices.

(b) more than two errors made in a batch of 50 invoices.

Session 2021/2022

26. On average, the number of consultations for a certain lecturer is two students per day.

(a) Determine the probability that there were three consultations on Monday.

(b) Determine the probability that there were 9 to 15 consultations in five days.

(c) The number of consultations will triple per day during the study week. Determine the
probability there were less than 20 consultations in five days during the study week.

FINAL ANSWERS

6 5
1. (a) DIY (b) 2. 3. (a) 0.1517 (b) 0.1835 4. (a) 8.4, 2.52 (b) 0.2528
25 8
5. (a) 0.9327(b) 19 6. Shown 7. 0.0062 8. (a) 0.0319 (b) 8
9. Shown 10. (a) 4.2, 1.68 (b) 0.9812 11. (a) 0.0337 (b) 0.0666
12. (a) 0.4232 (b) 0.4562 13. (a) 0.9930 (b) 0.6172, 0.3689 (c) 6.06%
5
14. (a) 0.9500 (b) 3 (c) 0.6779 15. (a) (b) 0.6039 (c) Company should not do. (d) 30
2
1
16. 17. (a) 0.2381 (b)96 18. (a) 0.9323 (b)11 19. 12, 4.8 20. (a) 0.0067 (b) 0.5438
3
21. Shown 22. 0.0801 23. (a) 0.15 (b) 0.25
24. (a) 7, 4.55 (b) 0.8803 25. (a) 0.3679 (b) 0.4562 26. (a) 0.1804 (b) 0.6185 (c) 0.0219